Rachel Gets 1st Place in SWYC Rockcod Tournament!
Saturday, May 08, 2010
The Southwestern Yacht Club once again had their bottom fishing tournament to help raise money for San Diego’s Hospice. This is not only one of the best run tournaments and best “bang” for your buck, but it helps raise money for a great cause. So you can never go wrong with this great event. This year on the team we had myself, Terry Hastings and famed fisherwoman Rachel Edwards. Having Rachel on the boat was extremely special since it was only her 2nd time being on the boat in the last year since she blew 2 herniated disks in her back. As most of you know, Rachel has always fished with me both in San Diego and down in Baja pulling on Sailfish and big Dorado. But last year she had to skip out on our annual Loreto trip due to her herniated disks. It has been a LOOOOOONG road back to recovery but she quickly got her sea legs back and quickly showed that once again she could keep up with even the best of them! Pulling up big Red’s from 450 feet of water is not easy fishing but she handled it like a champ. With a back brace on and staying focused on using her legs instead of her back she ended the day with no sore spots or pain. We did trade off every other drop so that she could assess her back and make sure we didn’t push it too hard. By the looks of things, she will be very ready for our Loreto trip in July and I can’t wait to have her back on the boat!
We dropped the boat in the water at 5:30am and headed over to the Yacht club to check in and have our complimentary breakfast of eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, juice, and coffee! You really can’t beat the layout. We all sat and enjoyed our breakfast before departing the dock around 6:30am to get bait. The morning was as still as it gets with the sun breaking out by the time we got a few miles outside of San Diego bay.
We pulled up to last years winning spot to see if we could get some fish on the deck. A few fish came over the rail, but it was a hard spot to fish with the currents and drift.
Terry holding up one of his Reds for the first stop while Rachel is pulling in her first ocean catch in a year.
With not much success we moved on to a new spot we had found the last time we Rock Cod fished that produced some very nice Red’s. Once we set up on this spot just right the catching kicked into high gear! Here is Terry and I pulling in doubles on Reds.
Terry and Peter battling some Reds from the deep!
One of Terry’s Reds.
Peter’s pulling in his Red’s catch!
The catch…
Rachel’s 1st place Red and biggest for the boat! Once again she proves she’s not just a girl on the boat. I think now her boat name is Rock Cod Rachel!
Our friends Max, Jeff and Mark fishing with us to help the “Club” weigh in.
This was our catch! A 48” long and 24” high cooler bag stuffed with tasty Rock Cod!
Laying the Rock Cod out to start weighing for the heaviest 5 fish.
Terry posing the the morning’s catch.
Rachel and Peter with the mornings catch.
Peter and Rachel holding up some of the prize catches for the morning.
On the way and just outside San Diego Bay we stopped on some Dolphin and Seals feeding very enthusiastically on a huge bait ball. We stopped to try and get some footage.
Once they broke up the bait ball part of it went under our boat and I was able to capture some of the bait ball hanging out under our boat. Kind of a neat underwater perspective for those who have not see this before.
Once again a Seal showed up and started to feed on the bait ball again. At first you will see the feeding on the surface and then when I put the camera into the water you will see the Seal swimming away from the bait ball.
The feeding frenzy was just more icing on the cake after a great day on the water with good friends, great weather, good fish and some of natures best entertainment!
Unloading the mornings catch to weigh in and donate to the awards dinner. We were the first boat in and had to wait for the weigh station to open so decided to have a cold beer and enjoy the amazing weather mother nature gave us.
Rachel posing with the stuffed bag of fish! Yes, there is a bag of fish there!
With our tired heads we unfortunately forget the camera for the awards ceremony. But fortunately Rachel’s phone can take some fairly decent photos. Here is beautiful Rachel “Rock Cod” Edwards standing next to the weigh in board showing her 5.90 lb 1st place win!
Myself and Terry looking a bit blurred and a bit tired after the long day. Yes I agree, Rachel is much nicer to look at! ;)
The night ended with a great fish fry and awards ceremony and raffle. Once again the Southwestern Yacht Club put on a great event that I look forward to every year! But now my mind has shifted to the excitement of heading back down to Loreto with Rachel after her 2 year hiatus from the big game world!
Until the next report, tight lines!
Captain Peter